Strangers Are Better At Choosing The Best Profile Photo For You, New Study Finds

It is not surprising that you can do anything with the help of social media nowadays. You can find a job, start an online business, search for properties, and even make friends! With all this, you want to build a credible and appealing social media presence. Thus the need for a better profile picture!

So how do you look your best and create a great first impression online? A study published in the journal, “Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications” claims that the best way to do this is by asking the opinion of strangers.

The new study shows that strangers can help you choose profile photos that stand out.

Strangers have better opinion of what makes a good profile photo.

For the first phase, more than 100 participants were asked to choose 12 pictures which they would use or not use as profile pictures for various social media accounts. The researchers likewise asked strangers to choose the best profile pictures of the participants.

When the profile pictures chosen by the participants themselves were displayed alongside the ones chosen by strangers, it is clear to see that the strangers are more likely to choose appealing photos. The second phase involved using the crowdsourcing platform, Amazon Mechanical Turk, in which participants will rate the photos and what their first impressions are.

Researchers suggest that our own perception might not be the best judge when picking out the best profile photo for ourselves.

Why, though, are strangers better at choosing a great photo?

“It seems we’re bad at discriminating between images of our own face. We suspect this is because our face is overly familiar to us. This familiarity seems to make it harder to choose the specific shot that best portrays us.”

So next time you choose a profile picture, taking a selfie is probably not the best option. You may want to ask the opinion of a stranger.

Spending Time With Your Parents Can Extend Their Lives, Study Says

While a hectic schedule is often the common excuse of children for not being able to spend time with their aging parents, those who want their mothers and fathers to live longer should exert more effort to be with them. After all, a study has revealed that the life expectancy of aging people can be extended if they are kept company.

The study, conducted at the University of California in San Francisco, delved into the correlation between loneliness and functional decline in older adults. As a result of the study, it was revealed that companionship can help extend and improve the quality of aging adults' lives.

Research has revealed that old people who have companions live longer and enjoy improved quality of life.

Nepalese Festival Honors, Celebrates, and Worships Dogs

There’s a festival in Nepal that celebrates its people’s friendship with dogs. As these furry animals are very much ingrained in the culture of the Nepalese, it is easy to comprehend why dogs are made to feel extra special on this day.

Known as Nepal’s version of the Diwali (the Hindu festival of lights), the annual Tihar Festival is a a five-day celebration that honors gift-giving, storytelling and strong relationships. As the Hindu culture has placed a great deal of value on dogs, the second day of Tihar, otherwise known as Kukur Tihar, is celebrated to give thanks to pets and stray dogs for the friendship and loyalty they have to humans.

Nepalese people believe that dogs are the guard of the gates in the afterlife.

Dogs Don’t Feel Guilty After Misbehaving, Expert Claims

While it is believed that dogs feel a sense of guilt after doing something that falls in the bad graces of their owners, a dog expert has revealed that it is not exactly the case. So, if a dog appears to be apologetic after doing something it should not be doing, what emotion does it feel if not remorse?

Dog owners know too well that allowing their pets to stay inside the house can mean broken shoes, slippers, remote controls, or pillows. Although the so-called “pawrents” can easily forgive their pets once they display their irresistible “puppy eyes” and pair it with an act of bowing as if they were admitting their guilt and feeling sorry for it, a dog cognition scientist , Dr. Alexandra Horowitz, has revealed that dogs don’t feel regret at all for their misbehavior. Rather, once a dog owner raises his voice after a dog has done something that warrants some scolding, it is fear that the poor animal feels, not guilt.

Dogs actually feel fear, rather than guilt, when scolded by their owners.